Sooryehan Hyobidam Fermented Emulsion

Little bottles of the Sooryehan Hyobidam Fermented Emulsion in a plastic package, on a cute potato cushion. Not my finest photography but too cute not to use

Introduction 

So, I've obviously written at length about my love for the Sooryehan Bon Firming cream. Several times now!

Link to the Bon Firming cream first impressions post

Link to follow up post on the Bon Firming cream

And I'd tried an emulsion before, I thought it was fine as a first moisturiser for my neck but I didn't think it had any dramatic benefits. 

The problem is that my neck is a tricky beast - very little seems to please it beyond. So I try not to judge neck products on efficacy, just on whether they irritate me. Woe is my neck is not what I came here to write about...

This Sooryehan emulsion is very well formulated and a decent emulsion that now has permanent slot in my routine as my AM summer cream. 

Or at least it did, until the hard water affected my skin and now I need much more moisturising products....

I started this post summer 2023 and a few things have changed so I've added updates in italics where relevant.

Packaging

I'm still using 5ml mini bottles at the moment because, like The Black Serum, I kept chucking them in my TesterKorea cart and didn't realise quite how many I'd ordered 😂

The little plastic tester bottle has to be given a bit of a whack to get the product out of it. I'd advise caution for people with dexterity challenges, although I think someone said the full size doesn't have a pump 🤷🏻‍♀️

The full size looks classy, although even the mini bottles are nice.

Texture

It's super smooth, very light and silky - at the same time, it moisturises effectively (depending on your skin type and climate).

If an amazingly moisturising cream was the skincare equivalent of butter, this emulsion is double cream! 

It spreads easily and is lovely to use as a result. 

Sooryehan Hyobidam Fermented Emulsion on a notebook page, a pale golden liquid that spreads to a light thin finish 

Ingredients 

This is from Incidecoder, I have no idea if it is still current so please don't rely on this - as usual, research it yourself if you have allergies or sensitivities.

Water/Eau, Glycerin, Hydrogenated Polydecene, Dipropylene Glycol, Betaine, Octyldodecyl Myristate, Glyceryl Stearate, Polyglyceryl-3 Methylglucose Distearate, Isocetyl Myristate, 1-2-Hexanediol, Panthenol, Cetyl Ethylhexanoate, Cetearyl Alcohol, Dimethicone, PEG-100 Stearate, Parfum/Fragrance, PEG-10 Dimethicone/Vinyl Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Carbomer, Tromethamine, Butylene Glycol, Trisodium EDTA, Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Seed Extract, Dextrin, Lactobacillus/Panax Ginseng Root Ferment Filtrate, Phaseolus Radiatus Seed Extract, Trichosanthes Kirilowii Root Extract, Panax Ginseng Root Extract, Yellow 6 (Ci 15985), Yellow 5 (Ci 19140), Angelica Tenuissima Root Extract, Pogostemon Cablin Leaf Extract, Poria Cocos Sclerotium Extract, Ceratonia Siliqua (Carob) Fruit Extract, Prunus Armeniaca (Apricot) Kernel Extract, Benzyl Benzoate, Limonene, Hydroxycitronellal, Linalool

Fragrance

It's woody, earthy and herbal: "potato, a fermented smell" said one of my friends who tried it. So yeah, smells fermented.

Definitely not my kind of fragrance but the product is excellent so I'll put up with it. It's not especially strong, definitely less noticeable than the Ginseng First Essence. The fragrance immediately dissipates on application. It's grown on me, I quite like the fragrance now and I don't register it as something negatively obtrusive. In fact, it's a nice contrast to the sweeter or cologne type fragrances of other products.

A kind redditor said they enjoyed my description of The Black Serum fragrance because they are a visual thinker. I'm going to attempt to include visual images of the fragrances in future, quality may vary, however! 

For the Hyobidam emulsion, it recalls lying down in a park where the grass is a little bare, you can feel the soil under the grass. It's at once moist and dry - not baked earth but you can see the relationship between earth and clay. The grass is on the way to slightly crispy, that green-yellow and the scent of grass is noticeable but not strong. 

What Step?

Well, emulsion: so after everything else and before cream and sunscreen. For AM, it replaced cream in my morning routine (before hard water, which I'm going to abbreviate to before HW).

All Sooryehan unless otherwise stated. Updated routine to reflect my current line-up

• Allies of Skin Silk Amino Hydrating Cleanser
• Ginseng First Essence // Whoo Bichup First Moisture Anti-Aging Essence 
• Hyobidam Fermented Toner 
• The Black Serum
• Ginseng Advanced / AD Essence (usage varies, more often recently)
• Sulwhasoo Timetreasure Invigorating Serum (usage varies, once a week)
• Hyobidam Fermented Emulsion // The Black Essence Moisturiser 
• AHC Ten Revolution Real Eye Cream For Face (Season 10)
• Hyobidam Fermented Cream (PM)
• Spring-water Cream (AM, usage varies) 
• Beauty of Joseon Sun Relief Rice + Probiotics (AM)

I sadly find The Black Essence Moisturiser a bit shiny with my other products so I'm currently experimenting as to what I use with what. And it doesn't work as a sole AM cream given that there's a cold snap in the UK right now - adding the Spring-Water and being selective on the actives with silicones/propranediol helps with the shine, though.

I do use some actives irregularly, now just to use them up as I'm super excited to be trying the ISA Knox Age Focus Prime Polynoid Wrinkle cream and the serum (hopefully the new versions, who knows with TesterKorea's odd labeling system!)

Skin type & the emulsion

For reference, below are some suggestions based on my experience, it's not gospel so YMMV ofc.

This deserves its own mini section because the Hyobidam Emulsion was HG AM cream for summer. I was planning on using it this summer too but we'll see about it.

For oily skin or the oily end of combination, I feel like the Sooryehan emulsion could be very good for you.

For combination to normal, it might be fine by itself.

For dry skin, it will not be moisturising enough unless you have super emollient serums - adding the Sooryehan Ginseng Advanced/AD essence has made a difference, which helps make up for the not-quite-moisturising effect of The Black Essence Moisturiser. You'll survive a day with a moisturising sunscreen on top but your skin may not thank you for it. 

Experience

My moisturiser demands 

So far, everything I've tried from Sooryehan has been a win of some kind. Only one real fail - the Chunsam toner broke me out and then cleansers aren't suitable for hard water ime, although they are still the absolute best products for getting ink or paint off my hands! 

The Hyobidam Fermented emulsion is an absolute win. So, so good.

There are many reasons the emulsion is impressive, ignoring the fragrance. I happily ignore the fragrance because it performs so well for combination skin. 

What I want from moisturiser is simple but hard to find - or it was before I tried Sooryehan creams! 

My moisturiser demands pretty much come down to wanting something that locks in my previous layers and dries to a non-sticky surface whilst leaving my skin comfortable all day or night.

It is kind of a lot to ask and my previous HG, Illiyoon ATO Ceramide Concentrate cream, largely did a good job and I might have stuck with it if I hadn't tried Sooryehan! I certainly bought plenty of tubes of Illiyoon.

The summer before I used Sooryehan was especially hot and humid, even my beloved Illiyoon didn't apply perfectly. The only thing that reliably worked, and did not become a sweaty mess, was Hada Labo Perfect Gel. 

The summer I started Sooryehan creams, I actually found them as effective in drying down and not becoming a sweaty mess, although granted it wasn't quite so hot. They dried well and kept moisture in my skin.

My routine was getting ever more elaborate before I found hanbang and there were positive results from said elaborate routine - however, I use far less steps now and much less product but for better effects.

So, to sum up, because I got sidetracked: the emulsion is exquisite. It does exactly what I need from it: moisturises, has great ingredients and locks in moisture.

Drier skin

My only slight complaint now is that it's not quite moisturising enough since I've moved - the hard water is taking a serious toll on my skin.

The Hyobidam emulsion is still an excellent addition to my routine. Although, of course, now I have The Black Essence Moisturiser, I've been using that. I still like to add in the Hyobidam Emulsion because I love having lots of choice and extra cream! 

Future alternatives

I have ordered the Sooryehan Hyobidam Fermented cream to try it under my new conditions - I'd avoided it because I had thought my skin broke out with shea butter. I've been using it for a while now and it's delightful. A review of this is upcoming.

Some of my Whoo Gongjinhyang Seol Radiant White products have shea and they work great in my current environment so I don't have concerns now. Although the Whoo products may not have much shea so it will be interesting to see how my skin reacts. They are a bit shiny for an AM routine though 

Why it's changed how I think about skincare

I mean, see above! 

Less steps, less product but way more joy 💕

What's not to love?! 

Final Thoughts

It's a good product - well-formulated and has a positive user experience, it dries to a smooth finish. I definitely like this and it was HG where I lived before. It might still hit HG status but I probably prefer The Black Essence Moisturiser because I love The Black range.